I have a wedding cake to do for April Ive never used gumpaste and was wanting to do gumpaste roses after seeing all the beautiful ones on this site.. How far in advance can u make them and how hard does gumpaste dry? I need to see if I can even make them What do you use to start the middle? HELP! TIA

I always make my roses in advance of the weddings. Sometimes up to 5 months. Once dry they can stay for years, but you need to cover them so they don't get dusty. They do dry hard, but are fragile, so make extras in case you break some petals off!

The centers can be either gumpaste or a small piece of styrofoam. I'm guessing you are making the roses on wires. If you make the center of gumpaste, it needs to dry completely before you start the rose. If you are making full blown roses with no wires, then the center could have stamens. Do you have a pic of what you want to do?

What's the difference between roses on or not on a wire? Why would you use one and not the other???

This is an example, I guess, of one on a wire an on without. When would you use wire and not?

The wire helps you create a bouquet or place the roses where you want easily on the cake. You can insert them in straws or the flower pics so they don't come into contact with the cake. It also helps when you make arrangements to have the wires to keep the flowers you want together.

I hope that helped. I completely prefer to make the flowers on wires. It just makes decorating alot easier for me.

Angie

I think both of those could be without wires. I use wires when I'm making a floral spray. If you just want to set them on a cake, or attach them to a dome you can do that with icing and have them stay. I always make them on wires just because I find them easier to handle.

There are many ways to make a rose. You can do them petal by petal, and use plastic spoons to help shape the petals. Or you can use the quick rose cutter (a five petal cutter with the petals separated in between). These would be built around a cone either of gumpaste or styrofoam.
I know there are several books and dvds on making roses. I would recommend Nicholas Lodge, his instructions are very clear, I believe he has a dvd so you can watch what he does.

Hi turtlemom

this is how i learnt to make roses..

www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/misc/lessons/fondantrose.htm

the second pic you showed as an example is a topper i made and the roses were made using this technique...

mine are not on wire, i used a tooth pick to attach the roses to a half foam ball..

kylie

I just picked up the little gum paste kit that Wilton puts out, and made some simple daisies. I am going to try to make a rose later or tomorrow. But the kit was $20 if you have a coupon from Michaels it would make it cheaper. The book is very easy to follow, IMO. "Good Luck.